~ Genealogy, History, and whatever else crosses my mind

Technology I Can’t Live Without

For the 43rd Carnival of Genealogy, the topic is Technology. What technology do I rely upon most for my genealogy and family history research (hardware, software, and website/blog)? We aren’t to “dilute” our answers by mentioning others that we like.

What’s a techie like me to do?!

Since I always follow instructions (those of you who know me can stop laughing now), I will do my best to stay within those parameters. (Though I want it noted that I consider this tantamount to “cruel and unusual punishment!”)

Favorite Piece of Hardware Besides My Computer:

This is an easy one — my digital camera. I have a Fujifilm Finepix S5200 which I absolutely love. It’s not a true digital SLR, but it is close. I can adjust the ISO from 64 to 1600 (though 1600 is really grainy.) F-stops from f3.2 to f8.0. 10x optical zoom. Macro setting. Adjustments for white balance (including a custom setting), etc, etc. I’ve had great luck using it to photograph documents and microfilm. And it runs of 4 AA batteries. How cool is that?!

Speaking of batteries, it does a good job in that department. One weekend last fall, I visited several cemeteries and took more than 600 photographs without exhausting the batteries.

Favorite Piece of Software Besides My Internet Browser :

This one is tougher. Since the focus is software used for genealogy research and not software used for any genealogical activity, I’ll go with my favorite genealogy software: RootsMagic.

RootsMagic is a robust genealogy program that is easy to use. I like how intuitive and how flexible it is.

Now if I could just find Matilda Debolt Skinner Crossen Brown McFillen’s death date to enter…

Favorite Website or Blog (besides my own):

I’m going to also eliminate any websites that I work on. (See, I can follow the rules!) While I haven’t used it that much for actual research, I’ve had a wonderful time exploring and experimenting on WeRelate. There is so much potential there. I can’t wait for Dallan to finish the match-and-merge feature!

Ok, there are my three pieces of technology. With any luck the next COG won’t be something like “Name Your Favorite Tombstone.” If that’s ever a category, be warned: I will not follow the rules and limit it to one!

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4 thoughts on “Technology I Can’t Live Without”

Thanks so much for the great read! I don’t consider myself a newbie to genealogy research but I was delighted to find a website that I hadn’t heard of! I will have to check out WeRelate and see what it is about. It looks pretty interesting.

It’s also interesting to see another person who chose Roots Magic. I definitely have to check that one out.

Ken — Thanks for stopping by! I bet you’ll enjoy exploring WeRelate. There are so many possibilities for its use.

Chery — Good to see you! I’ve had lots of ideas for posts, but very little time to do any of them. Hopefully when finals are done next week, I can get a little time to relax and do some fun stuff :-) I’ll accept your challenge and post some of my favorite tombstones!

Nikki-ann — Thanks for stopping in! One of the cemeteries I visited was Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. That place is *huge*! The variety of stones was incredible.